Will Jennings

Will Jennings
Born	Kilgore, Texas
Nationality	United States
Education	Stephen F. Austin State University; University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Occupation	Songwriter
Known for	My Heart Will Go On; Tears in Heaven; Looks Like We Made It

Wilbur H. "Will" Jennings (born June 27, 1944, in Kilgore, Texas) is an American songwriter who is popularly known for writing the lyrics for My Heart Will Go On, the theme for the film Titanic. He has been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and has won several awards including a Grammy, two Golden Globe awards, and two Academy Awards.

Life and education

Jennings attended school just outside Tyler, Texas, in the nearby Chapel Hill Independent School District. In 1967, Jennings earned his B.A. from Stephen F. Austin State University, located in Nacogdoches, Texas. He then taught at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire for three years and eventually attended the same institution in 1982.

Career

Throughout his career, Jennings has written for a wide variety of artists including Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Joe Sample, Rodney Crowell, Mariah Carey, Jimmy Buffett, Barry Manilow and Roy Orbison.

With Steve Winwood, Jennings wrote a series albums including While You See A Chance, Arc of a Diver and Back in the High Life, an album which contained the hits Higher Love, The Finer Things, and Back in the High Life Again. Winwood won the Record Of The Year and Outstanding Male Vocal Performance. Both Jennings and Winwood were nominated for the Song of the Year award for "Higher Love."

With Joe Sample, Jennings wrote Street Life (a world-wide hit for the Crusaders with singer Randy Crawford) and several songs for various albums by the Crusaders for guest vocalists, including Joe Cocker (I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today), Bill Withers (Soul Shadows), and Nancy Wilson (The Way It Goes). Jennings and Sample also wrote the better part of three albums for B. B. King, Midnight Believer in 1978, Take It Home in 1979, and There is Always One More Time in 1991.

Richard Kerr and Jennings wrote three modern classics, Somewhere in the Night and Looks Like We Made It for Barry Manilow and I'll Never Love This Way Again for Dionne Warwick.

Jennings has collaborated on many songs for films, the most notable songs being Up Where We Belong for An Officer and a Gentleman, a song which won the Academy Award in America and the BAFTA (British Academy Award) in England and was a number one hit for Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. In 1997, Jenning's wrote the world-wide number one Céline Dion hit My Heart Will Go On for the film Titanic with his collaborator James Horner. They won the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Song from a Motion Picture.

Among his other collaborations were two albums written with Jimmy Buffett and Michael Utley, Riddles in the Sand and The Last Mango in Paris. Jennings also wrote several songs for Roy Orbison's King Of Hearts album.

In Nashville, Jennings wrote hits with Rodney Crowell, including Many a Long and Lonesome Highway, What Kind of Love, and Please Remember Me, a number one country hit for Tim McGraw.

Jennings also wrote Tears in Heaven with Eric Clapton which won song of the Year and also won the Ivor Novello award for best song from a film.

Teaming with James Horner and Mariah Carey, Jennings wrote the lyrics for the central song in How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Where Are You Christmas?, sung by a character within the film and by Faith Hill at the end of the film. In the fall of 2002, Horner and Jennings contributed a song for the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind.

In the fall of 2002, Peter Wolf’s new album, Sleepless, appeared with positive reviews. The album features six new songs written by Jennings and Wolf, who collaborated previously on the critically acclaimed Fool’s Parade album which came out in 1999 on Mercury Records.

Jennings and Joe Sample, the keyboard player for the Crusaders, go back to 1978 and began by writing the Midnight Believer album for B.B. King and then wrote the hit Street Life for the Crusaders album of the same name. A hit Jennings and Sample wrote twenty years ago, One Day I’ll Fly Away, originally sung by Crawford, was featured in the film Moulin Rouge!, along with another of Jennings’s songs, Up Where We Belong. In the film the song One Day I’ll Fly Away is sung by Nicole Kidman and in late March 2002 was released as a single in England from the second soundtrack album to emerge from Moulin Rouge.

Albums

• With Steve Winwood: Arc of a Diver, Talking Back to the Night, Back in the High Life, Roll With It, Chronicles, Refugees Of The Heart
• With Joe Sample, for B.B. King: Midnight Believer, Take It Home, There is Always One More Time
• With Joe Sample, for various artists: The Crusaders Vocal Album
• With Joe Sample, for Randy Crawford: Now We May Begin
• With Jimmy Buffett: Riddles in the Sand, The Last Mango In Paris
• With Timothy B. Schmit and Bruce Gaitsch: Timothy B.
• With Richard Kerr: Welcome To The Club
• With Roy Orbison: King Of Hearts
• With Peter Wolf: Fool’s Parade, Sleepless, and Midnight Souvenirs

Hits

• Steve Winwood:
  • While You See A Chance
  • Still In The Game
  • Higher Love (#1, nominated for Grammy Award for Song of the Year 1987)
  • Back in the High Life Again
  • The Finer Things
  • Valerie
  • Roll With It
  • Don't You Know What the Night Can Do
• Eric Clapton:
  • Tears In Heaven (#2, nominated for a Golden Globe award, 1993 Grammy for Song Of The Year, 1993 Ivor Novello award from British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors)
• Dionne Warwick:
  • I'll Never Love This Way Again
  • No Night So Long
• Randy Crawford:
  • One Day I'll Fly Away
• Barry Manilow:
  • Somewhere In The Night
  • Looks Like We Made It (#1)
• Whitney Houston:
  • Didn't We Almost Have It All (#1)
• Rodney Crowell:
  • Many a Long and Lonesome Highway
  • What Kind Of Love
• Jimmy Buffett:
  • Who's The Blonde Stranger?
  • If The Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me
• Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes:
  • Up Where We Belong (#1, American Academy Award)
  • British Academy Award, Winner Tokyo Song Festival
• Celine Dion:
  • My Heart Will Go On (#1, American Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Grammy for Song of the Year)
• Tim McGraw:
  • Please Remember Me (#1)

Awards

He has received the following major awards:

• Best Pop Vocal Performance 1993 Grammy Awards "Tears in Heaven" performed with Eric Clapton
• Academy Award (1997), Golden Globe Award (1997), Grammy Award for writing the lyrics to "My Heart Will Go On" performed by Céline Dion for the motion picture Titanic.
• Golden Globe Award (1991) for writing the lyrics for "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton for the film Rush and also in 1991 for writing the song "Dreams To Dream" for the motion picture An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.
• Academy Award (1983), Golden Globe Award (1983) along with Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie for writing the song "Up Where We Belong" performed by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes from the motion picture An Officer and a Gentleman. Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award for "Up Where We Belong" with Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie
• Grammy Award (1993) — "Tears In Heaven" (shared with Eric Clapton)
• Grammy Award (nomination) (1986) — "Higher Love"
• Grammy Award to Dionne Warwick (1979) — "I'll Never Love This Way Again" (co-written with Richard Kerr)
• Academy Award (nomination) (1980) — for writing the song "People Alone" for the motion picture The Competition.

External links

• Will Jennings at Allmusic
• Will Jennings at the Internet Movie Database